Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev said today he could resign if the interim government guaranteed his safety and calmed the turmoil that followed an uprising against his five-year rule.
Mr Bakiyev raised for the first time the possibility of ceding power but attached several conditions to his possible resignation. Such a step could swiftly end a standoff with the self-proclaimed government which controls the country.
The interim government said later it was ready for talks with Mr Bakiyev.
When asked by reporters under what conditions he could resign, Mr Bakiyev said: "I believe first and foremost if there is a guarantee that the roaming of these armed people ends in Kyrgyzstan, that this redistribution of property and this armed free-for-all stops," Mr Bakiyev told reporters in his home village.
"Secondly, if my personal security and that of my family and my relatives is guaranteed," he said. "And also let them start preparing a snap presidential election to be held within two or thee months." Mr Bakiyev fled to the southern Jalalabad region from the capital Bishkek after troops fired on protesters in an uprising on April 7th that brought his opponents to power.
Kyrgyzstan's new rulers had ordered him to surrender by the end of today and threatened to seize him in a special operation if he continued to defy the interim government.
"We have abolished his presidential immunity," said new Security Minister Azimbek Beknazarov. "We have opened a criminal case against the former president. If he does not show up today after the rally we will hold an operation to detain him."
Asked whether he was afraid, Mr Bakiyev said: "No, I am not afraid of any special operations . . . the forces they have at their disposal are not able to fulfil this.
Mr Bakiyev has warned the self-proclaimed interim government that making any move against him could stoke further turmoil in the volatile Central Asian nation where the United States rents an air base used for the war effort in Afghanistan.
"It's not worth trying to intimidate me or the population of the south with the use of armed forces," Bakiyev said.
He called on interim government chief Roza Otunbayeva to join talks in the southern city of Jalalabad. Earlier in the day, about 7,000 supporters of Bakiyev rallied in Jalalabad, many waving banners and shouting: "Down with the bloody interim government."
"They have no right to do this. Their decisions are not legitimate," added Mr Bakiyev.
Mr Bakiyev swept to power five years ago in the "Tulip Revolution" that ousted the country's first post-Soviet ruler Askar Akayev.
At least 82 people died and hundreds more were wounded in the firing on April 7th. Mr Bakiyev has been mustering supporters in the south and had earlier brushed aside demands from the interim government to resign or leave the country and led a rally in the city of Jalalabad today.
The drama of the standoff in Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished nation of 5.3 million people, is important to the United States because of the Manas air base which it rents to support the war in Afghanistan.
The United States says the interim government has pledged to abide by its agreements on Manas, the last remaining US military base in Central Asia after Uzbekistan evicted the United States from a base in 2005.
Reuters